Qualcomm Buying Gesture Recognition Assets From GestureTek

By Jeffrey Burt |
Posted 2011-07-25

Qualcomm officials are looking to bring
gesture recognitions capabilities to their Snapdragon mobile processors through
the acquisition of assets from GestureTek.

The deal, announced July 25, eventually
will allow device makers that use the Snapdragon processors to offer greater
gesture recognition capabilities in their products, including smartphones,
according to Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president and group president at
Qualcomm.

"Applications processors are enabling a
range of new ways for consumers to interface with their home entertainment and
mobile devices," Mollenkopf said in a statement. "Our acquisition of key
technology and assets from GestureTek will strengthen Qualcomm's smartphone
product portfolio and enable our customers to launch products with new and
compelling user experiences."

GestureTek, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., makes
gesture recognition technology that is found in a wide range of mobile devices
and other products, including entertainment offerings, health care systems,
retail stores, and public and private venues. Through the deal, Qualcomm will
get intellectual property assets related to gesture recognition and engineer
resources around the technology. For its part, GestureTek is keeping gesture
recognition technologies that address public displays and digital signage,
according to Qualcomm.

Company officials said they will
integrate the gesture recognition technology into current and future Snapdragon
chips for use in such devices as smartphones, tablets and home entertainment
products. The devices will be able to offer user interfaces that are based on
natural human gestures.

No financial details of the deal were
released.

The GestureTek deal is part of a larger
effort by Qualcomm to expand the capabilities of its Snapdragon chips, which
are based on designs from ARM Holdings. ARM-designed chips-from manufacturers
like
Qualcomm, Nvidia, Texas Instruments and Samsung-dominate the booming market for
mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, although traditional x86 chip
makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are looking to make inroads into the
space.

In January, Qualcomm officials
announced the company was buying Atheros for $3.1 billion. Atheros'
cellular products touched on such areas as WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, all
important technologies in the mobile device space. The move was seen as a way
to help Qualcomm grow beyond its traditional business of mobile phones and into
the smartphone and tablet arenas.

At the time of the Atheros deal,
Mollenkopf said Qualcomm wanted to take greater advantage of the trend that is
seeing the jumping-off point for products such as tablets, Internet TVs and
other connected devices coming from smartphones rather than traditional PCs.
The trend fits well with Qualcomm's history of making processors for mobile
phones.

"We think the platform strength of
smartphones is generating enormous pressure on adjacent markets," Mollenkopf
said at the time. "This [Atheros deal is about] cellular [technology] exploding
into different markets, and as we go, we're going to need new technologies and
new people to get us there. ... We'll try to accelerate [that trend] as much as
possible."

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, speaking
about the Atheros acquisition, backed up that point.

"We've been pushing a lot of
capabilities into [mobile] phones," Jacobs said. "Now we see these capabilities
going out to all sorts of other devices."